The invention proposes an electrical switch with several switching ways distributed about a main vertical axis of the actuator.
The invention proposes more particularly an electrical switch with multiple switching ways comprising:                an insulating bottom support that delimits a housing with a generally vertical main axis (A), and, in the horizontal bottom thereof, fixed electrical contacts are arranged;        a top actuation member that is mounted to be movable relative to the bottom support from a central rest position, in which it is generally coaxial with the main vertical axis and into which it is elastically returned, to one or other of at least four main actuating positions distributed angularly at 90° about the main vertical axis;        a contact plate made of an electrically conductive material which extends generally horizontally between the bottom support and the actuation member and which comprises four main contact blades distributed angularly at 90° about the main vertical axis, each of which is capable of coming selectively into contact with an associated main fixed contact of the support, when the actuation member is in an associated main actuation position, to establish an electrical switching way between the associated main fixed contact and a common fixed contact.        
Recent developments and the rapid evolution of telecommunications methods, such as portable radio telephones, portable computers and other devices for which the control of various functions envisages, for example, moving a cursor with precision and speed on a screen, require the availability of electromechanical components of increasingly smaller dimensions and, particularly in the aforementioned field, allowing the scanning of menus, the movement of a symbol on a screen and, more generally, the combination of several electrical switching functions in a single component.
It is particularly desirable, in the case of an application with a portable telephone (for example GSM or UMTS) whose dimensions are constantly reducing and which the user must be able to operate and control with a single hand, that such a multiple switch can be operated with a single finger, for example the thumb, being placed on the main front face of the telephone comprising in particular the keypad, or on one of the two main lateral edges of the telephone casing, or under the main face of the telephone.
The need for a control device that is compact and having very small dimensions making it possible to move a cursor on a screen, and/or scroll down menus, also called a browser, is increasingly important on the devices of the “portable telephone” or “personal digital assistant” type offering an increasing number of functions and services requiring in particular choices proposed on one or more screens, similar to the use of a portable computer, or else the portable devices processing sound files digitized for example according to the “MP3” standard.
It is thus desirable to have an electrical switch with multiple switching ways requiring a single actuation member that can be operated with a finger.
Such operations, for example by means of the bottom face of the thumb of the hand that is holding the device, must be easy and be able to be carried out in as many directions as possible, with great user-friendliness and low operating forces (less than 2 Newtons).
In addition, such a miniaturized component must supply its user with a tactile sensation reflecting the validity of the operations performed.
The tactile sensation transmitted by the switch to the user is a very important parameter for its performance and user-friendliness.
The electrical selection pulses are thus produced by “scanning” the space by operations during which the actuation member is moved in different directions relative to a central rest position towards which it is elastically returned when the user relaxes his action on the top operating end.
There are many switches with four actuation positions distributed angularly at 90°.
However, the current electronic apparatus comprise a large number of functions, so that the control of the electronic apparatus using only these four actuation positions may prove particularly difficult.
Thus, to improve the simplicity of the control of the apparatus, it has been proposed to increase the number of actuation positions of the actuation member, by increasing in consequence the number of switching ways of the switch.
However, this increase in the number of switching ways involves an increase in the number of movable contact and fixed contact blades, which results in increasing the volume of the switch.